Melia’s growth plans for India
Melia Hotels International wants to first create awareness about the brand before opening a hotel in India, reveals Bernardo Cabot, Senior VP, Asia Pacific.
Started six decades ago in a small island in Spain, Melia Hotels International today boasts of 400 hotels around the world. “We started with one hotel in Bali 30 years ago and six years ago the company assigned me to Asia Pacific and we opened our regional office in Shanghai. However, I have realised that China, Indonesia, and India are key players not only for the current market but also for the future. Thus, we designed a three-step strategy for India,” claimed Cabot.
The first step of this strategy, according to Cabot, was opening an office in India, which they did last year. “We have our representatives and they take care of basically two objectives – connect us to the local market and implement marketing plan in order to increase the brand awareness in the country, which is quite low,” he revealed.
In phase two, he insists, “In our 60 years of experience, we have learned that opening our business in different countries depends a lot on local partners. Thus, we have started with MakeMyTrip and are integrating our reservation system with them. Probably in stage three, once our company is better known, the natural step would be to implement our brand. Thus, based on this strategy, we hope to have our presence soon in the country.”